Page 55 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #12
P. 55
WILDNEWS
CONSERVATION REPORT RED LIST
STATUS
VULNERABLE
Giantmantaray
Erick Higuera shines a spotlight on the world’s largest
ray as it returns to the Sea of Cortez.
Whyisthereturnofgiantmanta monitor the effects of conservation
raystotheSeaofCortezsigniicant? efforts in the region. We’ve recently
These beautiful sea creatures, with an conducted emergency all-hands-on
The Wash is
average wingspan of 6m across and the meetings, with the goal of aligning
England’s biggest
largest specimens weighing as much as the local diving tour operators with SSSI and a vital
1,350kg, haven’t been seen in the south the newest rules and regulations coastal wetland.
part of the Baja California Peninsula regarding how to swim with the mantas
since 2002 – possibly due to the threat and how to teach their clients these ENVIRONMENT
of bycatch and overfishing encountered best practices. It is important to keep
by the small population of around 50 these giants living wild and free in the Concern for sites of
individuals. The new sightings of 15 hope that they will return to the Baja
different juvenile manta rays in the Peninsula for years to come. scientiic interest
summer of 2018 might be an indicator
of a possible nursery, which is why their Howhastechnologyhelped he Government’s under-fire wildlife
return is so important. withconservationeforts? Tagency Natural England has come
Technology, through telemetry, with the in for criticism in the way it manages
Howdoestourismimpacttherays? use of both acoustic and satellite tags officially recognised wildlife sites.
Uncontrolled overfishing is the biggest has helped to determine and unveil the Data unearthed by the Green Party
threat to the species but dive tourism movement patterns and long migratory appears to show that nearly half of all
can also have a negative impact if movements of pelagic animals like England’s Sites of Special Scientific
not properly regulated. In the Sea of the giant manta rays that travel long Interest (SSSIs) have not been examined
Cortez, if too many people overwhelm distances across oceans to find a mate, in the past six years, as required by
the rays they could scare them away. breed and feed. With this data we guidelines. It says neglected areas include
We can protect these elasmobranchs can gather enough information to the Pennines, Exmoor, the Lake District
by creating a proper code of conduct help governments create better and much of the largest SSSI of The
and management plans to maintain a management plans. Kristen Gill Wash on England’s east coast.
Owl: Simon Litten/FLPA; Michael Gove: Christopher Furlong/Getty; manta ray: Nick Polanszky/Alamy; mudflats: David Tipling/naturepl.com
healthy distance between people and However, further questioning by
giant manta rays. ERICK HIGUERA is a marine biologist, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas has
film-maker and photographer. also revealed that funding for Natural
Howcanweprotectthem? England’s monitoring of SSSIs has been
It is important to establish and enforce FIND OUT MORE Latin American cut from £1.58m in 2010 to £700,000
tourism rules to protect the rays and manta ray alliance: bit.ly/LAOmantarays today, with more than 450 staff moving to
the Department for Environment, Food
& Rural Affairs (Defra) since the vote to
leave the EU in 2016.
“These figures reveal a government
policy of systematically gutting Natural
England,” Lucas says in a statement on
her website. “This ideologically driven
austerity is putting precious places at risk
of irreversible destruction.”
Responding to a parliamentary
question, Defra minister Thérèse Coffey
said Natural England was prioritising
work on upland SSSIs and developing
more efficient ways of monitoring them
by using remote-sensing technology and
greater partnership involvement. JF
A California sealion FIND OUT MORE Search for your
is dwarfed by a giant nearest SSSI, by visiting: designated
manta ray at La Reina, sites.naturalengland.org.uk
Sea of Cortez.
December 2018 BBC Wildlife 55
